On CNN this morning, President Obama’s campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said that the president disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare:
LaBolt says the president believes Obamacare is a penalty, not a tax, as the Supreme Court called the health care law.
CNN’S SOLEDAD O’BRIEN: “Does he believe this is a tax, or does he believe it’s a penalty? He actually hasn’t said yet, as I’m sure you know. He has not specifically said. His spokesperson sitting here with me said it’s a penalty. The Supreme Court has said it’s a tax. What does he believe?”
OBAMA FOR AMERICA PRESS SECRETARY BEN LABOLT: “That it’s a penalty. You saw our arguments before the Supreme Court. You’ve seen what the president has said over the past several years that it’s a penalty for that 1% of the population who can afford health insurance but hasn’t chosen to get it. Because the fact is that has led the rest of us to pay a hidden tax of $1,000 a year. Folks who already covered, it drives up our premiums.”
O’BRIEN: “So then he disagrees with the Supreme Court decision that says it’s now a tax.”
LABOLT: “That’s right. He’s said that it’s a penalty. You saw our arguments before the Court. And—”
O’BRIEN: “Your argument before the Court honestly also said that it could be– one of the side arguments, kinda like the backup argument was that it was a tax. So I did see the arguments before the Supreme Court and read the transcripts.”
LABOLT: “It never referred to it as a–it never referred to it as a tax. It said that it was a penalty. And that’s under the section of the law that is the tax code, but it said very specifically that it’s a penalty.”
